Generally speaking, data storage solutions are under increasing pressure on many fronts including capacity, density, performance, and power efficiency. With respect to power efficiency, interest in conserving power within data centers, and automated storage systems used therein, has generated increased awareness for ‘green’ solutions that use less power. Moreover, as data storage customers plan their data storage solutions, they often keep an eye on the total cost of ownership of the storage solution rather than simply on the initial acquisition cost. Customers' concerns about power consumed by their storage systems and by cooling systems needed to cool the storage systems are increasingly relevant to their buying decisions. This is because the cost of power for operation and cooling is a large factor in the total cost of ownership of a data center or automated storage system.
Tape-based storage solutions have demonstrated significant power savings when compared to disk-based solutions. This is largely because idle tape drives inherently use less power than idle disk drives, which continue to expend power to spin their disks. Despite this lower comparative power consumption of tape-based storage solutions, there is still a desire, due to environmental and economic reasons, to further reduce power consumption.
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